Manhunt: Police Search Campus for Suspect on Loose

Staff Report

Andover, Mass. — At 9:18 p.m. on Monday evening, Jennifer Elliott ’94, Dean of Students and Residential Life, sent an email alerting the Andover community that a man with five outstanding warrants was believed to have run into the Cochran Bird Sanctuary.

“The police believe that this individual ran into the Sanctuary,” wrote Elliott in the email. “He is wearing a gray hoodie and jeans; he is Hispanic, 36-years old and 5’4”… Do not go into the Sanctuary.”

Boarding students were advised to return to their dormitories, and day students were asked to proceed to either the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library or George Washington Hall.

The Massachusetts State Police, in partnership with Phillips Academy Public Safety (PAPS) and the Andover Police Department (A.P.D.), sent a search helicopter above the Sanctuary, where it proceeded to circle for roughly an hour. Several cars from the A.P.D. were also at the scene, according to Elliott’s email. The A.P.D. also reported that a K-9 unit assisted with the search.

A “be on the lookout” (BOLO) alert was sent to Andover residents, said Amy Morris, Director of Media Relations for the school, in a phone interview with The Phillipian.

“The town is completely in cooperation with campus security as well as the Massachusetts State Police,” Morris said. “At this point there’s no reason to believe that anyone is in danger, and no one has been hurt.”

Morris had no information on the nature of the warrants out for DeJesus’s arrest.

At 10:35 p.m., Elliott informed students and faculty members in a follow-up email that the Andover Police Department search had been called off, as the suspect was believed to have left the immediate area.

The suspect was later identified by A.P.D. to be Jose Rivera DeJesus. Police officials are asking the public to call 911 with any information related to the search.